Comment On This Play

[istewart]

This is a friend's play and I'm trying to convince that it's wrong, which I believe it to be, but have had trouble articulating why. Help me do so

$.01/.02 and $.05/.10 Stars NL ring

Limping in with AK in EP/MP and reraising all-in if it gets raised behind.

Be as brutal as you want to be, if you want to be.

[VanVeen]

In that game, as hard as it might be to believe, it's probably a +EV move. Still, it isn't maximally +EV given the poor post-flop play of your opponents.

[fimbulwinter]

[ QUOTE ]
This is a friend's play and I'm trying to convince that it's wrong, which I believe it to be, but have had trouble articulating why. Help me do so

$.01/.02 and $.05/.10 Stars NL ring

Limping in with AK in EP/MP and reraising all-in if it gets raised behind.

Be as brutal as you want to be, if you want to be.

[/ QUOTE ]

lederer discusses this in his NL DVD and it's a good line when the stacks are short (or i guess when your opponents suck). I think your line fits condition #2. obviously this doesnt work in the bigger games with coherent opponents and obviously playing AK on all streets with deep stacks is more optimal EV wise.

fim

[TheWorstPlayer]

Yeah, I think at these stakes there are several reasons why it is a good move with shortish stacks.
A) Opponents will raise significantly worse hands and they will still call your all-in
B) Opponents will call down with any pair so you don't have much fold equity on the flop, just hoping that you hit or that they miss, too.
C) You will either be pot committed on the flop or check/fold anyways so there are no good options if you miss. Why let them see that Q high flop for free when they raised with Q8s?
D) You are out of position

[creedofhubris]

With small stacks, it's +EV unless opponent has AA or KK.

In bigger games, you will only get called by KK and AA, so your odds get very bad.

[warlockjd]

I don't know this level at all, but if my guess is right, then this will be a very high +EV play as you will get called a lot more with hands like ATS and A7s than 33, 22, 66, etc.

[Publos Nemesis]

I disagree. Although AK gets most of its value by seeing all 5 cards, you are only getting called by hands that are either way ahead or way behind you. Why not play it for a small pot and just call the flop, especially if you can get more money in by inducing other people to call (i.e. weaker aces or kings). The way to make money on Party with AK is to get all-in against them on the turn when you know you have them outkicked. People on those sites can't get away from Ax, so abuse them. They will min-raise you if you are behind, so even if you see a flop and hit TPTK it's often not that hard to get away from AK.

[warlockjd]

High +EV, not maximum

[RobGW]

Are you implying that you limp in with AK, proceed to hit your A or K, bet out and get min raised, then you fold? I agree that you make money off people with Ax, but I find that many of them will call a preflop raise anyways. Why not get more money in the pot while you are ahead?

[Kaz The Original]

In this particular game you will get called by any big ace and often any two face. It's a pretty decent way to play AK.

[amoeba]

I am not sure about this move as I haven't played those limits.

I think 1 thing that hasn't been brought up yet is the possibility that it gets limped around.

[AncientPC]

It's not a bad play at those limits, but I wouldn't expect it to work as you move up. Still +EV in general.

[bobman0330]

This is not a good play.

Sure, it's +EV. You have AK against awful players who will play for all of their chips with significantly worse cards. it would be hard to make this hand -EV. You can do better though